Patagonia Manchester: “first full retail store opening in Europe for over four years!”

Patagonia has opened it’s first ever Manchester store and they celebrated in style!

The store which opened mid- December has had raving reviews and although the brand is well known on the Manchester scene this is their first UK store in several years. This week I spoke with Alex Weller, Patagonia’s marketing director about his vision for the brand’s new Manchester store.

“How has the feedback been since you opened in December?

We’ve been trading here for over four weeks now and we’ve been really positively impressed with how people have engaged with the store and the footfall. We’ve had some great events here at the store in our event space downstairs, the attendance has been good and the feedback from the Manchester community has been really positive.”

Courtesy of Patagonia/Mike Sallabank

Can you explain your “Worn Wear” concept?

Worn wear is something that started in North America about four years ago and we launched it in Europe two years ago. The idea is a simple one, based on the fact that if we keep our clothes in use longer, we buy less clothes and we therefore consume less. As individuals, keeping our clothes in use longer is one of the simplest yet significant things we can do in terms of reducing our individual impact on the environment. Making clothes takes quite a heavy toll on the environment and our belief is that if we’re really thoughtful about what we buy, if we choose really well made clothes that are built to be repaired, you can keep them in use for a very long time, then collectively we’re doing something positive in regards to clothing consumption.

Courtesy of Patagonia/Mike Sallabank

You keep the focus on environmental stability throughout all of your merchandise, can you explain?

The company is based on a really straight forward mission statement which is, “Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm” and we use our business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis. We believe that the environment is in crisis and how we address that through our business is certainly manifested in initiatives like “Worn Wear”, but really it is through every single aspect of the business, how we make our new clothes, the materials that we use, the buildings we choose to be in and the energy sources that we gather. Our commitment to supporting and defending environmental causes through grant giving and charities around the world. We currently donate 1% of all of our annual revenue to grass roots environmental organisations around the world, nearly 1000 globally, over 100 in Europe and 20 of those organisations are right here in the U.K.

Courtesy of Patagonia/Mike Sallabank

What’s the best thing about Patagonia having a store in Manchester?

Manchester is a really progressive and dynamic city and I really do believe that we can collaborate with the community here in pursuit of the things that we mutually care about and for Patagonia that means the sports that we love and build products for and the issues that we really care about in regards to environmental sustainability and social justice.